Stratasys Rolls out Industry Certification Program in North America, Designed to Bridge the Additive Manufacturing Skills Gap

Built alongside respected educational institutions, initiative sets
new standards for excellence and consistency across additive
manufacturing training and education

MINNEAPOLIS & REHOVOT, Israel–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Stratasys
Ltd. (NASDAQ: SSYS), a global leader in applied additive technology
solutions, today rolled out a new industry certification program in
North America – designed to more effectively bridge the skills gap it
observes in the additive manufacturing industry. Engineered in
conjunction with a consortium of top colleges and universities, the
program aims to enable students to secure accelerated additive
manufacturing credentials to improve employability and workforce
readiness.

According to industry data, demand for certified additive manufacturing
workers to fill industry vacancies will reach about 21 billion by end of
this decade. Unfortunately, many candidates are unable to prove
job-relevant skills leveraging consistent, industry-accepted benchmarks.
The new Stratasys Additive Manufacturing Certification Program provides
companies in manufacturing, design and medical industries with
measurable qualifications to prove applicants are workforce-ready and
immediately contribute to business success.

The program was developed alongside a consortium of leaders across
education – including The Wentworth Institute of Technology, Dunwoody
College of Technology, Iowa State University, UC Irvine and Milwaukee
School of Engineering. In addition to addressing evolving requirements
for skilled additive manufacturing workers, the education modules
provide consistency of workforce readiness with an approved range of
skill requirements.

“While demand for workers with additive manufacturing expertise
continues to rise, there’s really no across-the-board standard to judge
credentials. We’ve observed employers cannot always align job-specific
readiness with additive manufacturing skills, therefore many workers
fail to live up to expectations,” said Gina Scala, Director of
Marketing, Global Education at Stratasys. “Backed by nearly 30 years in
the industry and developed in conjunction with some of the most
respected additive manufacturing educators– we believe our certification
program is just what the industry needs to align the skills employers
require and workers deliver.”

Educational institutions enrolled in the certification program have
access to 40 contact hours of exam preparation content organized via
module and accessible directly via Stratasys. Other resources for
participating institutions include hands-on projects and labs, GrabCAD
and InsightCAM software, module exams, instructor notes, and
presentations. Enrolled students can tap into key technical resources
guides, industry use cases, and software and preparation notes.

According to The Danfoss Group, a global producer of products and
services used in cooling, air conditioning and heating – successful job
applicants have proven, hands-on experience: “Here at Danfoss, we are
implementing additive manufacturing using a variety of technologies in a
wide variety of applications. We are looking for candidates who have a
passion for AM as well as general understanding of all the technologies
in additive manufacturing today,” said Kevin Ayers, Additive Design and
Manufacturing Specialist at Danfoss. “It’s very important to recruit
talent that have actual hands-on experience in running a 3D printer and
processing parts.”

For more information – or to get involved in the new Stratasys Additive
Manufacturing Certification Program – visit http://www.stratasys.com/education/edu-certification
or contact edu.curriculum@stratasys.com.

Stratasys is a global leader in applied additive technology
solutions for industries including Aerospace, Automotive, Healthcare,
Consumer Products and Education. For nearly 30 years, a deep and ongoing
focus on customers’ business requirements has fueled purposeful
innovations — 1,200 granted and pending additive technology patents to
date — that create new value across product lifecycle processes, from
design prototypes to manufacturing tools and final production parts. The
Stratasys 3D printing ecosystem of solutions and expertise — advanced
materials; software with voxel level control; precise, repeatable and
reliable FDM and PolyJet 3D printers; application-based expert services;
on-demand parts and industry-defining partnerships — works to ensure
seamless integration into each customer’s evolving workflow. Fulfilling
the real-world potential of additive, Stratasys delivers breakthrough
industry-specific applications that accelerate business processes,
optimize value chains and drive business performance improvements for
thousands of future-ready leaders. Corporate headquarters: Minneapolis,
Minnesota and Rehovot, Israel. Online at: www.stratasys.com,
http://blog.stratasys.com and LinkedIn.

Contacts

Stratasys Corporate & North America
Craig.Librett@stratasys.com
+1
518-424-2497
or
Joe.Hiemenz@stratasys.com
+1
952-906-2726
or
Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Incus
Media
Jonathan Wake / Miguel Afonso
stratasys@incus-media.com
+44
1737 215200
or
Greater China, Southeast Asia, ANZ, and India
Alison.Yin@stratasys.com
+
86-21-33196051
or
Japan and Korea
Aya.Yoshizawa@stratasys.com
+81
3 5542 0042
or
Mexico, Central America, Caribe and South
America
Yair.Canedo@stratasys.com
+52
55 4169 4181
or
Brazil
GP Communications
Caio.Ramos@GPcom.com.br
Nando@GPcom.com.br
+55
(11) 3129 5158